As mentioned in the other post, Kabini is famous for its tiger and leopard sightings. While 2 tiger sightings and 4-5 leopards spread across three days made this trip a memorable one, what made this trip the best ever, was the the duration and the quality of these sightings. With having visited so many national parks in India, I never had the chance to leave tigers or leopards out in the open and return back when the safari had to end and we had to be out of the national parks.

I was also thrilled with the fact that I had my family with me and I was very happy seeing them, especially my son and daughter enjoying the national park and experiencing the big cats at such close quarters and for such long duration.

My first visit to Australia. Came back from Brisbane the previous night and decided to do some whale watching off the coast of Sydney. Weather at Sydney during the week gone by was rather gloomy. Mornings were pretty cold at around 5 to 9 degrees, with daytime temperature reaching a high of about 13 degrees. Such cold weather was accompanied by showers every now and then as well.

June 30th turned out to be a fabulous day to be on the ocean. By the time the ocean going vessel from Captain Cook Cruises was out of the docks, it was a pleasant 16-17 degrees, with clear blue sky’s and a vast blue ocean in front of us.

Whales were probably waiting for such warm weather as well, that they decided to put on a great show. Withing 30 mts of our cruise, we had sighted two humpback whales and were following them along their journey. Stephani, a marine biologist perusing her PHD, was our naturalist for that boat ride. She kept the commentary running through out the cruise, with her extensive knowledge of the marine life that she is studying, but ‘woooow’s and ‘ohhhhhh’s drowned her commentary ever so often.Stephani and the crew members of the Captain Cook Cruises told us that this particular cruise was probably the best whale watching session that they had till day in 2018.

The two whales, which were just frolicking, jumping out of the water and putting on a show, were joined by another whale and the show became even more spectacular. Hard to describe the feeling one gets when you watch such a show, but i will never forget the moment when two of the whales jumped completely out of the water and back in, in a perfectly synchronized manner, right in front of our boat. Was too awestruck to even attempt to make an image of that moment. But that was a moment to savoir and remember.

Did not know how 3 hours went by in the company of these gently giants. It was a perfect way to spend a day on the ocean and then around Circular Quay. My last day in Sydney, before I started my journey back home was well spent and was a memorable one indeed.

This was the first weekend in Sydney, on my first ever trip to Australia. Cold winter had its icy grip over Sydney and surrounding areas. If Sydney was cold at around 6-7 degrees, it was close to 0 at Katoomba, gateway into the Blue Mountains National Park.

The Blue Mountains National Park is a protected national park located in the Blue Mountains region of New South Wales, Eastern Australia. The 267,954-hectare (662,130-acre) national park is situated approximately 80 KM west of Sydney. Despite the name mountains, the area is an uplifted plateau, dissected by rivers.

Wish I had figured out the train system in Sydney earlier. By the time I had figured out the local trains v/s trams and trains going out of Sydney city and the usage of Opel cards, it was almost 8 am. Took a train from Sydney Central to Katoomba, but unfortunately missed getting down at Katoomba and ended up going to the next station and having to wait for 30+ mts to get a train back to Katoomba. So what was supposed to be a 2:15 mts journey, ended up taking a bit more than 3 hours and I ended up starting my visit to Blue Mountains only at around 11:15 am.

Was pleasantly surprised to learn that the train from Sydney to Katoomba costed me just AU$ 5.95 and once in Katoomba, decided to take the Red Explorer Bus, that allows you to hop on / hop off at any point and explore points of interest on our own.

Did the Scenic Railway, Cable-car, Rope-way and the walkway, a great way to get a sense of the scale of the Blue Mountains. Then spent the afternoon in search of the Lyrebird, with no such luck. However, the time spent wandering in a remote part of the park, in the thick valley floor and amidst thick foliage, with not a human in sight for about 2 hours, was quite an experience. With sunset fast approaching and with temperatures beginning to fall, decided to call it quits and came back onto the main road to get onto the next bus back to Katoomba and catch my train back to Sydney.

To my fellow travelers, who are planning on going to Blue Mountains, here is some advice: If possible, plan at least a 2 day trip to Blue Mountains, if not three. Definitely leave Sydney early as well and getting down at the right stop will also help. Only then you can do justice to this national park and will be able to visit many of its many points of interest.

Kabini is probably the most sought after National Park in South India and its reputation as the place to see the big cats is unprecedented. Staying at Jungle Lodges and Resorts is an expensive option, but this time around it was well worth it.

We decided to stay for three full days, instead of the usual 2 days and what a magical 3 days it turned out to be. We not only saw two tigers and 4 or 5 leopards, but were able to get good sightings of elephants, birds were plenty and except for sloth bear and the dhols, probably saw all the other animals.

Given the number of shots from this album is pretty large, have decided to have a separate post for the leopards of Kabini. This album is about tigers, birds and all other animals we saw during those magical 3 days. Hope you enjoy these photos as much as we enjoyed during our trip.

]]>0GThttp://www.fleetingmoments.net/?p=37552018-07-15T15:21:10Z2018-06-18T14:10:40ZThis is the view from our Sydney office pantry area.

What a view. My colleagues who work out of this office are really lucky to have a view like this. Out of the 6 days i worked out of this office, I ensured I either ate my breakfast or lunch, sitting at the row of seats that face this fabulous view. Bread did taste better because of this view.

Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House, built on the Tasman sea inlet and with Sydney CBD and North Sydney sprawling on the two sides of the inlet, offer innumerable opportunities for photographers.

Here are some of the shots taken from Luna park, which is located on the North Sydney side and overlooks the Opera House.

]]>0GThttp://fleetingmoments.net/fm/?p=31262017-07-09T06:42:59Z2016-07-31T06:30:12ZThose who love mountains know this, once you visit them they always beckon you back. Ever since my first tryst with Himalayas, which was a trip to Leh-Ladakh back in 2005, I have always wanted to see more of this vast and magnificent landscape. Was blessed to do the Mt. Kailash – Manasa Sarovar trip back in 2014 and in the month of July 2016 made it to Lahaul-Spiti.

Arun Bhat, a good friend of mine and a well renowned photographer who runs Darter have been organising photography trips to Lahaul-Spiti for the past 4-5 years now. Had booked my trip to Lahaul-Spiti, back in 2013, with Darter, but had to drop out in the last minute due to a personal emergency. So this year, I did manage to join Darter on their Lahaul-Spiti trip and was ably led by Manish Lakhani, a great landscape photographer, and someone who has spent a lot of time in Leh-Ladakh-Spiti regions of the Himalayas.

The scenic Spiti Valley is God’s special creation. It’s breathtakingly beautiful. Spiti literally translates to ‘The Middle Land’. It derives its name from its geographical location in between the Indian peninsular mass and the Tibetan plateau. The Spiti has imprints of Buddhist culture. It has the oldest monasteries of the world in Ki Monastery and Tabo Monastery, a favorite of Dalai Lama.
Spiti is located at an altitude of 12,500 ft above the sea level. This barren cold desert of the mountains is eye-catching destination to a city dweller like me.

Himachal Pradesh formed the district of Lahaul-Spiti in 1960 by merging two separate districts, Lahaul and Spiti. Before the two districts were merged, Kardang was the capital of Lahaul, and Dhankar the capital of Spiti. Kaza is the capital of the merged district now.

Kunzum la or the Kunzum Pass (altitude 4,551 m; 14,931 ft) is the entrance pass to the Spiti Valley from Lahaul. It is 21 km from Chandra Tal. This district is connected to Manali through the Rohtang Pass. Spiti is more barren and difficult to cross, with an average elevation of the valley floor of 4,270 m (14,009 ft). It is enclosed between lofty ranges, with the Spiti river rushing out of a gorge in the southeast to meet the Sutlej River. It is a typical mountain desert area with an average annual rainfall of only 170 mm (6.7 inches). It is the fourth least populous district in India.

Here is a brief outline of our itinerary:
Day 1: July 16th : Arrive in Manali, prepare for an early morning start the next day
Day 2: July 17th : Drive from Manali to Kaza, close to 230 kms, via Rothang Pass and Kunzum La. The longest travel, in terms of time, for the entire trip. Stay at Kaza.
Day 3: July 18th : Explore Kaza and visit Key Monastery in the afternoon. Stay at Kaza
Day 4: July 19th : Visit Langza and stay at Langza
Day 5: July 20th : Visit Dhankar Monastery and Dhankar Lake. Back to Kaza.
Day 6: July 21st : Head out to Chandra Tal. Overnight at Chandra Tal.
Day 7: July 22nd : Head back to Manali.
Day 8: July 23rd : Head back to Delhi and eventually towards Bangalore.

There are numerous bridges that one has to travel on these beautiful, rugged mountain roads. The cover photo of this blog was shot on the way back somewhere between Kaza and Losar. Losar, by the way, is known for its export of peas.

This travelogue will not be a day to day tale, but has been organised around the major destinations of this trip. Below are the 8 posts about each of the destination.

The cover photo of this post was taken on our way back from Kaza to Longzar:

]]>0GThttp://fleetingmoments.net/fm/?p=31882017-07-09T06:43:35Z2016-07-18T06:30:41ZKey Gompa (also spelled Ki, Kye or Kee) is one of the iconic Tibetan Buddhist monasteries, which is 400 year old and is located on top of a hill, at an altitude of 4,166 metres (13,668 ft) above sea level. It is one of the most beautiful monasteries that is not only easily accessible by road, but also the one that lends itself well to be photographed, because of its location. Key is made up of multiple levels and is pretty large and can be seen from miles, sitting on the ledge, on the eastern bank of the Spiti river. Once you reach the monastery and make you way to the rooftops, you also get an idea of how vast the Spiti valley itself is. I was awed by its sheer vastness and grandeur.

History of Key Gompa is one of sheer resilience. Since the 17th century, it has withstood multiple attacks, earth quakes and major fires. Kye Gompa now belongs to the Gelugpa sect and along with Tabo Monastery and Drangtse Monastery, it is part the three monasteries that belong to Gelugpa sect in the Spiti region. It is the largest monastery in Spiti Valley and accommodates nearly 250-300 monks, who reside within the sacred walls in winter, and stay with their parents or brothers, working in the fields, or employed in carrying travellers’ goods, during summer.

Vast expanses of the Spiti Valley. On our way to Key Gompa, from Kaza.

Sunlight lit Key Gompa as seen from the Key village, situated downhill from the Gompa:

Every village has 3 deities that guard and protect them. Here is the Key Gompa and the 3 deities of the Key village. Not really sure why the deities are distant from the gompa itself.

View of the main entrance to the Gompa and the road turn back towards Key village:

View of the three deities and the Spit valley, towards Kaza. Key village seen at the lower sections as well:

Sun sets over the valley:

Another view of the sunset:

View of the Key Gompa and the valley from the southern side:

This was shot three days later, on our way back from Kaza to Chandra-tal. View of the Key Gompa from the western bank of the Spiti river.

Image-gallery from Key Gompa:

]]>0GThttp://fleetingmoments.net/fm/?p=32792017-07-09T06:44:31Z2016-07-19T10:33:16ZDue to the vastness of the “Middle Land” and the entire region being sparsely populated, all human settlements here are isolated amid their own beautiful surroundings. But the one that awe stuck us and left us speechless was this hamlet that was set amidst green pastures and surrounded by snow-clad mountain, was Langza.

This remote village, situated at an altitude of 4400 meters in the upper region of Spiti, is surrounded by many snow clad peaks and the tallest among them being the Chau Chau Kang Nilda (CCKN), which in local language means the princess of the sun and the moon. The CCKN towers over the entire landscape at 6603 meters. A giant statue of Lord Buddha overlooks the valley from the highest hillock in the village.

Langza is divided into 2 sections, namely Langza Yongma (Lower) and Langza Gongma (upper). This Buddhist village belongs to the Sakyapa sect of Tibetan Buddhism and house a population of 150+ people in about 30+ households.

The mainstay of this village in the olden days was mud craft. Vessels of all shapes and sizes were produced here and supplied to the entire valley for household use. This craft has dwindled over the ages and the current mainstay is primarily agriculture. This region receives no rainfall from monsoon and the summer months are spent growing barley and sweet peas. Barley is one of the staple foods and the sweet peas are exported out of this regions. Families also rear livestock, which provide them with milk and meat. Donkey’s are reared and used for transportation. Summer is also the time for taking out sheep / cattle and donkey for grazing in the high altitude meadows.

Winters are long and inclement at Langza. Langza remain disconnected from the civilization during winters; only a few brave souls stay in their mud house during that inhospitable weather. Livestock can’t be grazed during these months and are cared indoors as well.

As summers arrive, the transformation of snow fields to green pastures is truly overwhelming and Langza opens its door to a few fortunate visitors.

Timelapse of Langza:

Langza Village:

Fields of barley, sweet peas and snow covered CCKN that towers over Langza:

A close up of CCKN:

Lord Buddha at the top of the village:

View of the Langza Gongma:

Barley grass:

Livestock grazing:

Donkeys grazing in the high altitude meadow:

Sunset over Langza:

That night was guru-purnima and the full moon bathed the entire valley in this amazing mysterious light.

Image-gallery from Langza:

]]>0GThttp://fleetingmoments.net/fm/?p=33162017-07-09T06:44:58Z2016-07-20T14:06:28ZDhankar Gompa (also spelt as Dankhar, Drangkhar or Dhangkar) is both a village and a Gompa, in the district of Lahaul and Spiti in India. It is situated at an elevation of 3,894 metres (12,774 feet) in the Spiti Valley above Dhankar Village, between the towns of Kaza and Tabo. The complex is built on a 1000-foot high spur overlooking the confluence of the Spiti and Pin Rivers – one of the world’s most spectacular settings for a gompa.

Dhankar is supposed to be the oldest monastery, but unfortunately was not able to get that title due to lack of records / papers and Tabo Gompa got that distinction. Dhankar, like Key Monastery and Tangyud Monastery in Spiti, are built as a fort monastery on the central Tibetan plateau.

Here is the Dhankar Gompa at the top of the spur and the village spread around in the lower sections:

A new monastery, as seen below, at a short distance from the old monastery, now houses all the monks. Couple of monks are assigned to guide the tourists at the old monastery and for its upkeep.

Dhankar Gompa in all its glory …. Pin river (on the left) joining the Spiti river on the right. What a location to build a glorious Gompa !!!

Close up of the Gompa :

View of the Spurs and the Dhankar village, with building being built using concrete and steel:

View of the green fields, opening up the endless vistas from Dhankar:

Image-gallery from Dhankar Gompa:

]]>0GThttp://fleetingmoments.net/fm/?p=33592017-07-09T06:45:43Z2016-07-20T14:36:29ZDhankar lake is situated above the village of Dhankar at the height of 4136 meters (13570 feet) surrounded by dry, aried mountains on one side but opens up to distant snow capped mountains on the other side.

The hike to Dhankar Lake begins from a non decrepit path just outside the old Dhankar Monastery and throughout the hike the monastery plays hide and seek with you as you follow the serpentine path caressing the mountainsides. Depending on how fit you are, the trek is moderately difficulty and it should take you an hour to hour and half to reach the lake from the Dhankar monastery. What makes it challenging is the fact that you need to ascent about 1000 feet on a path that is strewn with loose rubble and small boulders.

It rarely rains in Spiti as it is cold desert, but it snows every year leading to landslides and mudslides on these slops. This makes the path strewn with loose rubber, so one needs to be a little cautious and one has to have a good pair of hiking boots / sandles and one should not forget to carry enough water on this trek.

Most of the time on our way up was spent trying to click the Dhankar monastery and the confluence of the Pin river with Spiti rivers. Every turn on the way takes you higher and every time we stopped, the scenery looked different and beautiful. Stopping for photography was also a great excuse to catch ones breath on this steep climb.

Slowly but steadily we finished our ascent and were a little disappointed to end up in an arid desert like landscape and no water in sight. But then we realized we had another 10-15 minutes walk to get to the lake and once you get there….it is a sight to behold.

With a small gompa on it’s bank, the lake is beautiful. Good amount of crystal clear water spreads over a large area. Lake is surrounded by the barren hills from the sides,and beyond the other side of the lake, clearly visible snow-capped peaks of Himalayas. Such a magnificent setting that it simply fill your soul and is an absolute paradise for landscape photographers.

If the setting was not enough, we had two more beautiful experiences. We were sitting by the lake and taking it all in, when out of the blue wild horses* came out of nowhere for a drink.

There is something about horses. Add them to any landscape they make the landscape even more beautiful.

We were busy photographing the horses and we heard something scrambling on the barren hills. We look back and we see a huge flock of sheep and goat, running down the steep slope and they seemed so happy running down that hill. I guess they were so happy to see the water at that time of the day or may be it was just pure joy of being in such a location. One can never know for sure.

In no time we all surrounded by thirsty livestock as they made their way to the lake to quench their thirst.

The stragglers then followed in a nice line and then the cool looking Shepard was with them as well:

The sight of livestock and the horses earlier, by the side of a high altitude Himalayan lake made this trek and the day a magical one.

Reluctantly we started to make our way back to Dhankar gompa. A beautiful sunset behind the gompa and the great beyond, kept us company that evening.

We were a little tired by the end of the day, but what a fabulous day it was and what a way to live a day.